Stories from the trenches, by a fictional hiring partner at a large law firm in a major city.

Saturday, April 01, 2006

I decided to wake up early this morning and make breakfast for Anonymous Wife, just to surprise her, for no particular reason. It's the kind of thing I used to do before she became stupid. I got the kids out of bed to help. I took them with me to the supermarket to buy some eggs and juice. There was a woman in front of us in line, with a hundred dollars worth of groceries, and her credit card was rejected for insufficient funds. Her eyes started tearing up, and she told the cashier she thought she had enough in her account for food this week for her family, but she must have spent it all on the prescription drugs her husband needs, since he's disabled and can't work. I quietly handed the cashier a hundred-dollar bill from my wallet, and told the woman not to worry about it. On the way home, Anonymous Son noticed a stray dog limping along the side of the road. I stopped the car, picked up the dog, and brought it to an animal hospital. As I was carrying the groceries into the house, my Blackberry buzzed. It was a message from an associate who's supposed to draft a motion by Monday. The message said her grandfather was ill and she needed to go visit him in the hospital, but it meant she was going to be unable to finish the work in time. She asked if it would be okay to take an extra day to finish. I wrote her back immediately and said I would find someone else to take care of the motion, and she should just worry about her grandfather and not give it a second thought. Then I mailed this month's check to the American Red Cross.